Dinner

I sat at dinner with 2 women I didn't know. Basically, I sat there because one of then women is named Mildred (like my mother). A young male kitchen employee stood nearby, occasionally smiling at us indulgently. The the other woman at the table Is named Mary. Following is the conversation which ensued:
ME: Can I join you?
MILDRED and MARY: Yes! please! Join us!
MARY: The man who was sitting there left already.
MILDRED: He sure did leave in hurry. He didn't even have any ice cream.
MARY: He was probably jealous.
MILDRED: He said he didn't feel well...
MARY: He had no reason to get upset...
MILDRED:...I hope he's O.K....
MARY:...there was absolutely nothing I could do about it...
MILDRED: He always loves his ice cream.
MARY: It's not my fault that cook kissed the top of my head.
MILDRED: Well, no. He just leaned over and smooched you right on the head.
MARY: I know it was a great big kiss, but that's no reason to get mad.
MILDRED: Well, no! You didn't ask him to kiss you.
MARY: He had no reason to get mad, anyway. We eat together every day, but we have no understanding. It's not exclusive.
MILDRED: You couldn't do a thing about it!
Etc

fall

It's "Back to School" time for sure. There are many indications of this, but, in my humble opinion, the most welcome of these is the change in the weather.

Heat and multiple sclerosis DO NOT MIX! When I'm hot, I'm a basket case. (No comments, please, about my normal condition.) As a matter of fact, it was being hot at the pool that initially dramatized my MS symptoms to the point that I could no longer ignore them.

To avoid heat induced illness, I keep my room here quite cool. It drives all the little skinny Ethiopian women caregivers crazy. I'm the one who has to live here, and they are just here for 15 minutes, so I don't worry about it... which is yet another reason why I'm so popular around here.

Finally, though, fall weather is moving in. It is to be only in the mid-40's and high 65 to 69 degrees tomorrow. (Does anyone know where the little degree symbol is on the iPad virtual keyboard?)

Another "Back to School" indicator is the fact that I began a new class today. It is offered by Arlington County Adult Education and is called "Design your Own Website". It teaches, not only how to make a site, but also how to publish it, as well as how to make it more visible to search engines.

It will be really fun and challenging to "re-create" a page like the one I used to run. This page was named "Write to Order". On it, I sold custom written nonsense verse or alternate song lyrics about anyone or anything. Customers told me the nature of the verse they wanted, and I e-mailed questions about the theme. People read or sang these verses at parties and tributes, or made the poems into greeting card. I used a service called "PayPal" to deal with all the money collection. PayPal, in my opinion, was well worth the small fee charged.

The problem is that the ISP went out of business, and the page just disappeared. Yes, I do have it on backup disks, but I can't figure out how to publish it again. I think I really just luck that I ever got it published in the first place. My ISP was named ABC, because that was the first one listed and I didn't know how to differentiate.

Anyway, I don't want to put the same page back up. I want something fresh.

I made a few sales with the old site, including about 50 songs/poems for birthday or retirement events. I even wrote a whole series of poems for a girl's Bat Mitzvah. I had a job then, though, and didn't have much time for advertising or promotion. Now I have tons of time, so maybe I can make a go of this.

I think the funniest thing I wrote was for a woman on her first anniversary. She wanted a song to sing to her husband at their first anniversary party that made fun of his three old girlfriends, and she told me a prominent flaw about each of them. I wrote the song to the tune of "The Aadams Family"' and it went something like, "They're creepy and they're kooky, They're ugly, dumb, and spooky, They're altogether ooky, The girls Fred used to date"

Lest we forget...

On the day after the 911 10th anniversary, I had a sobering reminder that I do, indeed, live in Arlington. There is a guy here that I've always just thought about as an "Old Coot". He has no teeth and wild hair that sticks out in clumps. I've never really spoken to him except to say, "Hi, Mr.Finch. Glad you are home from the hospital.".

On 9/12, I went in the sitting room here to read the paper, and found Mr. Finch at the table. He had a whole stack of lined white writing paper and was looking at the 911 commemorative issue of the Post. He was writing furiously, and had a small stack of pages of neatly written notes. Always eager to stick my nose where it doesn't belong, I said, "Hi! What are you writing?"

He pushed aside the stack of newspapers about 911 observations and said, "I don't want to ever forget."

I said, "Were you at the Pentagon?"

He said, "I was retired. That plane hit my office. My whole department died." After discussion, he further said, "I lived in a high rise near Watergate, right across the river. I went out on the balcony because I heard the plane coming in so low. And then I saw it fly straight into the Pentagon."

Wow. Sorta brings the whole day back to life, doesn't it?

Dubious

OMG - there is a show on TV called "The World's Smallest Man". He is a full grown male only 27" tall. His name is "Edvard" He is on a big stage now, in a white' sequined tux, singing and leaping about, and occasionally throwing himself on the ground.

OK - back to reality. They had a "Back to Sunday School" picnic at church which they called a "tailgate party". It was in an abandoned parking lot in the shopping center where the church is located. This was not a real good idea. It was very hot. The only shade was under a big canopy some members brought, and there was no grass, so the kids had to play on asphalt.


On my way over to the picnic, as I passed Safeway, a skinny, dirty guy who was collapsed on the sidewalk said, "Help the homeless? I haven't eaten in 2 days.".

So I said, pointing to the picnic, "Come to that our picnic down there. We have lots of food."

I went on down and I saw the homeless man at the picnic, eating burgers and a bIg plate of salads.

After the picnic I was back at Safeway waiting on the bus. I guess he didn't recognize me, because h said, "help the homeless. I haven't eaten In 2 days.".

I said, "I just saw you eating at the picnic."

He said, "I didn't eat that. I'm allergic."

I said,

go away, rain

Is it ever going to stop raining?? (I actually knew a boy who played tuba once. I was in ninth grade at Colonial Heights High. I went up to Dad one evening when he was picking me up after band practice, and I said, "Can we take home Forest and his instrument? He lives on our street." Poor Dad said, "Sure", and he's still talking about it 30 years later.)

The news last night showed flooded streets and abandoned cars.
so I should really stop feeling sorry for myself for being in a warm dry place. Well, sorta dry. There is a major water leak in the living room. right under the @##%ed bird cage. Maybe, with luck, the birds will get washed into the Potomac.

I hate those birds. When the company comes weekly to clean and vacuum the cage, I keep hoping they will vacuume up the birds by accident.

duck weather

I HATE RAIN!!!!

I've been in this iccky room all day. I has poured all day, and it is supposed to rain all day tomorrow, and maybe Friday, so you can visit me at the looney bin, room 1.

Adios!

Sort of a bummer of a day today because I had to say "goodbye" to 2 people from here that I like. Which is about 99.95% of the people here that I like. Oh, wait - I just thought of 2 more people that I like. So lower that percentage a bit, will you?

One of the people that left today, was Joey, my favorite care manager. He works the overnight shift, so he's the main caregiver who gets me to bed at night and who gets me up in the morning. He's a young black man, American, who works hard and who really cares about the well being of the residents and of the other employees. He's medium build and height with a complex tattoo on his lower arm and with long, braided "Rastafarian" hair. This is picture of the type hair he has, but not of him. Joey has a very affiable attitude, and is quite easy to talk to. He's married and has a daughter and son he adores.

Anyway, he'll be back in two weeks - he just went on vacation.

The other person was a fellow that lived here named Wayne. All he ever did was bitch and whine about how much he hated being here, so maybe I'm actually glad he's gone.